Welcome to All Hallows

Wellingborough's Parish Church, Northamptonshire U.K.
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History 
The manor of Wellingborough belonged to Crowland Abbey, Lincs, from Saxon times and the monks probably built the original church.  The earliest part of the existing building is the fine Norman doorway opening in from the later south porch.  It dates from c1160. The church was enlarged as both the population grew and the need for more side chapels was felt and by the end of the 13th century had assumed more or less it's present plan.
The fine west tower, crowned with a graceful broach spire rising to 160 feet, was completed about 1270, after which the chancel was rebuilt and given the superb east window twenty years later.
 
Church building generally came to halt with the terrible Black Death (1348-50) which decimated the country's population and only got underway again in the latter decades of the 14th century. The Crowland monks had a grange, or small manor house, on the site of the present 'Croyland Abbey' and it is probably due to them that the chancel was fitted with six wonderfully carved misericord seats for use by the clergy during services. At about this time the chancel was enclosed with the fine oak parclose screens, still in their original positions. In the 15th and early 16th centuries the side chapels were rebuilt and extended and the small chantry chapel to the south of the nave, with its wonderfully carved and coloured roof, added by a town guild.

The Reformation of the mid 16th century brought an end to both church building and their adornment and much that was beautiful and of high artistic merit was wantonly destroyed, a process often repeated a hundred years later during the Civil war and Cromwellian period.  However, in 1634 an old Wellingborough boy 'made good, Sir Paul Pindar, having amassed a huge fortune, presented the church with a handsome set of silver-gilt altar plate, still in occasional use.
 
Church life was generally at a low ebb during reigns of the first four Georges (1714-1830), but from the mid Victorian period onwards there was a great revival and much was done both for the spiritual life of the parish and the state of the church building.
Stained glass was gradually reintroduced, beginning with the large memorial window to Canon Broughton over the High Altar in 1873, and this culminated with the introduction of a series of outstanding contemporary windows by such artists as Evie Hone, John Piper, Patrick Reyntiens, and Jean Barillet in the 1950s and 60s.  Other objects of adornment, large and small, including the great rood screen, a memorial to the 1914-18 War, increasingly made an appearance throughout the years of the 20lh century.  Much of this was designed or made locally, particularly several pieces of altar silver from the studio of Frank Knight OBE, the famous Wellingborough church silversmith.
 
 
All Hallows c. 1880: note the cottages, which are now the site of the car park next to the market

In 1983 major restoration work was necessary.  The works included: new access door to the Ringing Chamber and helical staircase, the tower and spire, including the renovation of the weather vane, repairing the tower arch in the interior and work on the parapets, pinnacles and the North and South porches.  The work was completed in 1991 at a total cost of £290,000. 40% was financed by English Heritage and balance raised by public subscription and grants from Wellingborough Council and the County Council.

All Hallows? St Luke's?
From ancient times, the church had been All Saints.  At some point in the 19th century, it became St Luke's. Around about 1870, it was decided to return to the original dedication. Unfortunately, by this stage All Saints, the daughter church, had been dedicated.  Therefore the church is now dedicated to All Hallows.  In Old English or Latin, All Hallows and All Saints is the same dedication - it is only in modern English that both words are available for the same meaning.

The church registers begin in 1586, and are complete down to the present day. These are lodged at the Northamptonshire Record Office, Wooton Hall Park, Northampton. NN4 8BQ.
 

All Hallows, along with much land in Wellingborough, was in the hands of the monks of Crowland Abbey, Lincolnshire, from before the Norman Conquest. (The original site of the building in Wellingborough known as Croyland Abbey is the Council Offices in Sheep Street). Most of the iron-stone building is 600 years old and nothing remains of the original Saxon Church. However, the South Door is typically Norman (c.1150 AD), so it can be assumed that there was a small Norman Church here before the building was enlarged in the 13th century to meet the needs of the rising population.


All Hallows in the Market Place is Wellingborough’s ancient parish church. A church stood here in Saxon times but the oldest part of the existing building is the splendid Norman doorway from about 1150. The exterior is overshadowed by the 13th century spire, 165 feet high. The tower houses a ring of eight bells, the heaviest in Northamptonshire.
The majority of the church dates from the 14th and 15th centuries, although the chancel east window is c.1290. There are a number of finely carved medieval roofs. That in the small south chapel still retains its original colouring, a remarkable survival from c1400. It contrasts with the unusual Hans Feibusch (1952) mural of the Ascension above the altar.
The interior is dominated by the great oak rood screen (1916-20), a memorial to those who lost their lives in the First World War. Inside the chancel are six misericord seats dating from about 1390 when the church belonged to Crowland Abbey, Lincolnshire. The parclose screens on each side are of the same period.
The church is full of beautiful things, including altar ornaments and silverware by the late Frank Knight, the world-famous Wellingborough silversmith, but nothing is more memorable than the series of modern stained glass windows installed 1955-69. One is by Evie Hone and three are the joint efforts of John Piper and Patrick Reyntiens who did the glass in Coventry Cathedral. Another comes from Barillet of Paris, 1962. Together they constitute an outstanding collection of contemporary stained glass and add a unique quality to a building already beautiful in its own right, ensuring every visit is an unforgettable experience.

All Hallows is a special church in many ways and, as a building of historical interest, is described by N. Pevsner in his series on British Architecture. - See the link 'More All Hallows' below.